Metastatic Liver Cancer Prognosis - How to see when the end is near?

By: Cancer Stories | Posted: 04th April 2008

Is your loved one diagnosed with metastatic liver cancer? Then you are at the turning point where the medical world stops and your extra care starts.

When we heard father had secondary liver cancer, apart from the indescribable anger and sadness we felt...

We had 2 questions:


We got 2 answers:



Metastatic Liver Cancer Facts

From all the words we didn't understand when father was diagnosed with cancer, the most important was "metastatic".

It's another way of saying that there is 1 cancer in your body that created another cancer somewhere else in your body. You can compare it with a fire: -a primary cancer would be a fire inside one house. -a secondary or metastatic cancer would be a fire spreading from one house to the next.

Treatment for Secondary Liver Cancer

You stop a fire by removing it or putting it out.

It is that it's much easier to extinguish a fire in 1 house compared with putting out a fire in an entire neighborhood.

In both cases: if you manage to put out the fire, it won't be without some fire-damage or fire brigade-related damage.

In father's case: sending in the fire brigade was too late. Doctors couldn't find his primary cancer, therefore if one would have the means to replace his liver, the primary cancer will attack the new liver again.

How long will the patient live?

How long does a snowman live? At first he looks still OK, then you will see him gradually melting.

The doctors will give you a prognosis: between 3 to 6 months was what we were told. Depending on the care and love you have to offer, you will be a bit in control between the time frame given.

We organized an awful lot of palliative care takers and family members to make sure father didn't have to spend his last months inside the hospital.

Conclusion: when you hear the words metastatic liver cancer, then rephrase it like our doctor did: your father is dying.

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Tags: conclusion, neighborhood, time frame, doctors, anger, sadness, family members, turning point, extra care, prognosis, fire damage, medical world, palliative care, snowman, fire brigade